


warm bodies

by gdgdbaby



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Furniture Shopping, Other, Sharing a Bed, Slice of Life, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 19:49:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17148035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gdgdbaby/pseuds/gdgdbaby
Summary: "Cats are kind of like dogs, except meaner and more independent, and they sometimes bring dead things back to their owners as presents."CATS SOUND SMART."You'd think so," Eddie says.





	warm bodies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kahvi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kahvi/gifts).



"So remember that thing we saw in the hospital?"

** THE SMALL DOG I BRIEFLY SHARED A BODY WITH? **

"Yeah, that's right."

Their Lyft driver turns into the Home Depot parking lot. Venom's been bugging him about where they're going the whole ride over, but Eddie's trying this new thing where he attempts not to freak other people out by talking to himself until he's near the tail end of every interaction. He's not sure it's working so well; Tarsem with the black Toyota Corolla gives Eddie a funny look in the rearview mirror as he hops out of the back seat and strolls into the store.

"Cats are kind of like dogs, except meaner and more independent, and they sometimes bring dead things back to their owners as presents."

** CATS SOUND SMART. **

"You'd think so," Eddie says, failing not to sound too fond. He peels his hoodie back. "Alright, where's the pet section…"

** WHY ARE WE GETTING THIS THING MEANT FOR CATS AGAIN? **

Eddie sighs. "Because you keep clawing up my sheets every other night," he says patiently. "It's getting a little expensive."

** WHEN I WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MEMORIES, YOU NEVER STRUCK ME AS SOMEONE WHO CARED MUCH ABOUT THE STATE OF YOUR SHEETS. **

Eddie snorts. "Tough hit from the symbiote." He spots a big PET SUPPLIES sign in the far corner of the store and starts making a beeline for it. They narrowly avoid getting hit by an orange shopping cart piled high with thick oak boards, mostly because Venom manages to move his muscles in time for them to do a weird shuffling limbo beneath the board that was about to slam into Eddie's throat.

** I JUST CALL IT LIKE I SEE IT. **

"Here we are," Eddie says, waving a hand down the aisle. There's a whole row devoted to cat trees and playgrounds of all shapes, sizes, colors. "We should be able to find something that works."

The first one they step up to is fuzzy, tan, and has three different towers. Eddie glances around, makes sure no one else is really close enough to pay them much attention, and then reaches a hand out toward it. Venom slithers out, a black, amorphous blob that twines around the center and oozes out, feeling the fabric.

** TOO ITCHY. **

"Solid feedback," Eddie says, retracting his hand. He peers down the aisle again and trots toward a smoother-looking playground with little ladders leading from box to box. "How about this one?"

Venom stays attached to it for longer, exploring the holes and crevices, weaving sinuously from box to box. A golden retriever and its owner pass by behind them, and the dog growls a little as Venom peers out at it through one of the openings.

** I DON'T LIKE THE COLOR. HURTS MY EYES. **

"Really?" Eddie says, flat. "Two weeks ago you were telling me that your kind don't even process color." He glances at the price tag and has to do a double take. "Actually, never mind. I'm fine with passing on this one."

** WHAT'S WRONG? **

"I'm definitely not dropping a cool hundred-forty for a cat playground."

They skip over a shockingly pink cat castle and two more trees before they find a reasonably priced cat tower. It's vaguely hourglass in shape, the fuzz soft enough that itchiness shouldn't be an issue. There are two tennis-ball-sized bobbles attached to one side, too, in case Venom gets bored in the middle of the night and needs something to bat at. "This looks good," Eddie says cautiously, letting Venom out to play again. "And it's only forty bucks with tax."

Venom's barely touched the tower before they retract. **I DON'T LIKE IT** , they say, tone decidedly mulish.

"What now?"

** I JUST DON'T. CAN WE GO GET FOOD OR SOMETHING INSTEAD? IT'S A BETTER USE OF YOUR MONEY. **

"It's like you don't even want a bed of your own," Eddie mutters.

Internally, he can feel Venom do the physical equivalent of a head tilt. **OF COURSE I DON'T** , they say. 

Eddie blinks. "What? Why not?"

** ASIDE FROM THE OBVIOUS, WHICH IS THAT I WOULD DIE WITHOUT BEING INSIDE YOU— **

"We could just move it close to the bed, you could still be _touching_ me—"

** WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I WOULDN'T JUST TEAR UP THIS FANCY CREATURE PLANT— **

"Cat tree."

** WHATEVER. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I WOULDN'T JUST DESTROY THIS THING TOO? **

Eddie has to admit it's a compelling point. As far as generalized skillsets go, Venom's entire oeuvre seems designed for destruction.

 **PLUS** , Venom says, curiously guileless for a symbiote whose instinct is to rip the heads off other humans more often than not, **I LIKE SLEEPING WITH YOU. I THINK YOU LIKE IT TOO.**

The truth is — Eddie _has_ slept better since he and Venom bonded. Enough time has passed for Eddie to think about it more clearly, to assess the long nights of tossing and turning after he moved out of Anne's place. Nothing about his situation has changed since then: he's still in a shitty one bedroom apartment in the boondocks outside Palo Alto, and he still eats like he's a freshman in college, fast food and beer and whatever Venom decides is the most palatable treat in the frozen food aisle when they go grocery shopping.

Sleeping, though — ripped up sheets aside, something about the counterbalance of having Venom there seems to ground him into the mattress every night, empty his mind of all else as he settles into slumber. It might even be better sleep than he got when he was still with Anne. Some nights, he swears he can feel Venom curl around his shoulders like a weighted blanket just before he drifts off.

 **SEE?** Venom says, sounding smug.

Eddie exhales slowly. "Okay, but does sleeping require you to shred everything but the mattress into bits three times a week?"

Venom makes a grumpy noise that bubbles up in Eddie's chest. **CAN'T YOU GET SOME… I DON'T KNOW. THEY DON'T HAVE THICKER, NON-TEARABLE SHEETS IN YOUR WORLD?**

"You want me to sleep in a tarp every night?" Eddie shakes his head, laughing. "They probably actually sell that somewhere in Home Depot. I guess we could try it."

*

It doesn't turn out well; tarp is, predictably, incredibly uncomfortable to sleep in. Eddie's willing to try a lot more, though, to make this work. He has no doubt they'll figure something out.


End file.
